july 2007 MAXIMUMPC 19
M
aster’s
G
uide
Cooling
MAINTAIN THE CPU STATUS QUO
Unless you’re overclocking, your stock CPU
cooler should do an adequate (read: non-
destructive) job of keeping your processor’s
temperature at stable levels. That said, it
would be in your best interest to keep your
chip on the blue side of the thermometer
instead of the red, for longevity’s sake.MEMORIES OF SUMMER
Ahh, the ol’ memory sticks. Nearly every other
component in your computer has some kind of af-
termarket cooling product, so why not the RAM?
In short, you’re gullible if you buy into the non-
sense that stock-clocked RAM needs air blasting
at it or additional heatsinks stuck to it. Leave the
memory alone, and who the hell is Summer?OPTICAL DRIVES ARE COOL
Here’s one area of your computer that
doesn’t need much cooling: the 5.25-inch
drive bays. Unless you have some hard
drives stuffed up in here, you aren’t going
to find your optical drives or front-panel
connectors outputting any heat. Point those
fans elsewhere, son.YOUR POWER SUPPLY SUCKS
Don’t forget that your power supply works
as a quasi-efficient air-sucking mecha-
nism. We don’t recommend using your
PSU as the only means of air movement in
your case, but it does help a little bit—just
a little.STORAGE IS HOT
This one’s a no-brainer. Hard drives get
warm. And while you’ll see variations in
temperature across the billions of different
models, the usual rule is that the faster
they spin and the more they’re working, the
warmer they get.